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Vol. 10 No. 36
Maurice White:
“It’s All About
Love”
By Jocelyne Hudson-Brow / Inquiring News-CT
1941-2016
Maurice White ,74, the founder
of Earth Wind & Fire passed away
on February 4th. His legacy will forever be one of love and spiritual
uplifting and enlightenment
through music.
White born in Memphis, TN was
a famous drummer long before he
created EW&F. He was a member
of the Ramsey Lewis Trio (RLT)
and played on songs for Etta James,
the Impressions and toured with the
Dells. He left the RLT in 1969 and
formed the band we now know as
EW&F shortly thereafter.
The music White produced for
EW&F was a mixture of jazz, soul,
R&B, infused with African and
Latin rhythms, gospel and the Phoenix Horns. The band sold over 90
million records the old fashioned
way, one fan at a time.
An EW&F concert was always
a diverse multicultural event which
was/is a testament to the body of
work White created. During the big
budget concert heyday EW&F
shows featured theatrics that were
million dollar productions and delivered a stage show that was beyond compare. White’s brother
Verdine levitated while playing his
guitar, the drummer spinning
around never missing a beat, the
whole group getting into a giant
pyramid that rose high in the air,
broke into pieces and when the
smoke cleared they were standing
linked arm-in-arm in front of you
on stage. Audiences went crazy.
There was always an encore, there
had to be.
White stopped touring in 1994
citing the rigors of being on the
road. In 2000 he announced he had
Parkinson’s Disease and made few
public appearances thereafter but
remained active behind the scenes.
Faith, hope and love are the
foundations upon which all human
beings thrive and White managed
to capture that musically. He is the
recipient of 6 Grammy Awards, a
member of the Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame an NAACP and BET
Award winner. He also produced
music for the Emotions, Barbra
Streisand, Neil Diamond and Cher.
EW&F was the band tapped to play
the White House after President
Obama was elected and held his
first social event. Heaven has just
gotten another bandleader. The angels are in for quite a treat. Oh what
music they will be making now!
Writers Note: EW&F is scheduled to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Grammy
Awards airing Feb 15th on CBS. The
announcement was made in January.
Jocelyne Hudson-Brown is a
Society of Professional Journalists
Award winner and longtime correspondent for Inquiring News. She
can
be
reached
at
[email protected].
Copyright © 2016
Inquiring News / MyWay Dev., LLC
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
CASE Names
Dwight Bachman,
Eastern Public Relations Officer,
Major Award Recipient
Dwight Bachman, center, is congratulated by Endia
Cordova, left, dean of institutional advancement and
community engagement at Manchester Community
College, and Manchester Community College President
Gina Glickman, winner of CASE’s Chief Executive
Leadership Award.
Boston, MA. - CASE, the national Council for the Advancement
and Support of Education, has
named Dwight Bachman, public relations officer at Eastern Connecticut State University, as recipient of
its Quarter Century Circle Award.
CASE presented the award, one of
its major awards, to Bachman at its
Annual District One Conference on
Jan. 27 at the Westin Copley Place
Hotel and Resort. The award recognizes advancement and communications professionals who have
served for 25 years or more for
higher education institutions and
other educational nonprofits.
Former Eastern President and
Connecticut State University System Chancellor David G. Carter
hired Bachman at Eastern in 1990.
He is responsible for helping to create and manage a comprehensive
public relations plan to preserve and
enhance the image of Eastern. He
has written thousands or press releases and feature stories, and produced award-winning publications
promoting the University; placed
hundreds of Eastern’s students, faculty and staff on radio and television shows and established numer-
ous mutually beneficial relationships between Eastern and the community.
Students are Bachman’s pride
and joy. In May 2013, Nana
Owusu-Agyemang, in her senior
class address at Commencement,
described Bachman as “a wonderful boss.” Kate Harner, Eastern’s
2012 Barnard Scholar Award, described him as “one the most influential people in her life during at
Eastern,” based on all the fun she
had “learning about public relations
from Mr. Bachman.”
In 2014, Bachman participated
in the White House Initiative on
Africa. In 2013, he was a finalist as
a “Special Person” for the Connecticut Department of Higher Education Distinguished Service to the
Community Award. In 2012,
Bachman was inducted into the East
High School (Waterloo, IA) Hall of
Fame for his accomplishments in
the public relations profession.
In 2007, he awarded Eastern’s
prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. Distinguished Service Award.
His internationally-televised, 12part television series, “Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.: A Look Back,” has
Bachman delivers
acceptance speech at the
Westin Copley Place Hotel
and Resort in Boston.
Behind him is Dave
Nuscher, chief
communications officer
for the Boston-based
American Academy of
Arts and Sciences.
been described as “a gift for future
generations.” In 2002, Eastern Returns, Eastern’s annual back-toschool comprehensive marketing
tabloid on which Bachman served
as managing editor, won the Independent Newspaper Publisher’s
Association “Best in the Nation”
Marketing Insert Award. Bachman
also serves on the national Public
Relations Society of America’s Diversity Committee, and the board
of directors for Willimantic, CTbased Project Genesis.
Prior to Eastern, Bachman
served as a radio and television
news producer for 13 years in
Washington D.C., Baltimore, NYC
and in Stamford and West Hartford.
WTOP All-News Radio in Washington D.C., where Bachman
served as morning editor, nominated him for a George Peabody
Award, the world’s oldest and most
prestigious prize in electronic media, for researching, writing, and
producing an eight-part series on
the highly celebrated Allan Bakke
affirmative action case.